


Steel in a Forge

by Rosage



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Crimson Flower Spoilers, Gen, M/M, Platonic Relationships, Takes place directly after the Hubert/Ferdinand A+ support
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-01 06:48:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20810834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosage/pseuds/Rosage
Summary: Until now, everything Hubert has done has been for Edelgard. She tries to convince him it’s all right to change.





	Steel in a Forge

Hubert allows himself warmth for a second before going as cold as the Kingdom. Magic breezes carry him a hair above the ground, letting him glide smoothly even in this state to the nobles’ dorms. Only once he is inside Edelgard’s room, the door shut, does he touch down.

“Lady Edelgard, I have something to report,” he says. She sits upright, pushing aside her papers.

“What is it?” she asks.

He perks his ears for footsteps in the hall. “It is not so much a report as a confession.”

She must sense the need for delicacy over urgency, as she gestures to the bed. He smoothes the sheet as he sits. It would be more proper for him to kneel, but they are used to this; when he pins her hair in the morning, there’s no reason to pretend they didn’t used to huddle under the covers, sharing a child’s idea of a scheme.

She turns in her chair to face him. “Breathe, Hubert.”

At her command, he realizes he’s locked up, like when he’s inches from being detected. She rattles off options. _Is our security compromised_?_ Have you been in contact with my uncle_? With each _no_, he regains a bit of sense.

“It is nothing so dramatic,” he says. “I simply had coffee with someone and thought you should be aware.”

Her head tilts. “Who did you poison?”

“Nobody,” he says with a cackle. “Though that would have been an interesting twist.”

“You simply had coffee,” she repeats, before her mouth curls like a cat detecting a bird. “So, it was a date.”

Hubert laces his fingers over his knee. Too late he realizes who the mannerism resembles. “I suppose you could call it that.”

The way Edelgard props her chin on her chair back, in her old dorm room of all places, does not befit an emperor. Then again, nor does the stuffed animal hidden in her drawer or the sketches she thinks he’s never noticed.

“Why, Hubert, you must tell me who.” A taste too bitter for even him sits on his tongue.

Ferdinand von Aegir. _Aegir_.

Ferdinand.

His expression must be indescribable, as she says, “I can’t tell whether this was the best or worst date of your life.”

“Seeing as I have no basis for comparison, you could consider it both. You know that until now, I have…”

Until now? Until _now_?

With a lurch, Hubert plants his knee on the floor, his head bowed. “Your Majesty, my devotion is for you and you alone. Say the word, and I—”

“You will what? Use me as an excuse to run from your feelings?”

He bristles. “I don’t run from anything. Do you not trust my dedication?”

“Hubert, please, get off the floor.”

He follows the direction. This time, she joins him on the bed, her posture as perfect as ever. Since they were young, he has towered over her, yet her presence makes him small. It’s always drawn him to both protect and follow her; he aches to have forgotten for anything, let alone…

“It was Ferdinand,” he says.

Her sharp laugh makes him grimace.

“I’m afraid I am disgustingly serious,” he says.

“It isn’t disgusting. I just wasn’t expecting that.”

“Neither were we.”

A smile rises unbidden at how the irony made Ferdinand and him laugh. Aware of Edelgard watching him, he sobers.

“We are both your loyal vassals,” he says. “If you disapprove, we—”

“Stop. I will not tell you who to see.”

“You could.” Ordinarily, his parents would claim that power, but his father lost any right to a future when he hurt Edelgard, and Hubert has given her whatever most nobles would their family.

“I _won’t_. Look at me.”

He does, faced with the resolve she wields to command armies.

“You’re a person, Hubert. Your position does not change that.”

His fingers clench in his lap, just as they do around prisoners’ necks. Vestras are weapons. Why else would he have fumbled with teacups and Ferdinand’s heart, afraid to break such delicate things?

“You know why I set us on this path, correct?” she continues. “Our enemies treated my family like steel in a forge. I am never letting that happen again. Not to anyone, and not to the only family I have left.” She stares into him, and he almost swallows his tongue. “If you help me create a world where all are free to choose their own path, who am I to deny you the same?”

Their path. The horizon he and Edelgard strive for together, guiding him so he never has to waver. “You are right. We have far more important matters to worry about.”

“That isn’t what I meant. If the world I am building could fall because you had a pleasant afternoon, then its foundations have already crumbled.”

As always, her logic soothes him. Everything is in motion; their final steps fit on a checklist. “Naturally. Still, we are at too precarious a point to let down our guard.”

“I grant you that, but I think we have gotten a little ahead of ourselves. So, did you agree on a second date?” Her hand curls under her chin. He lets his mind play out the memories he already suppressed.

That beaming face, like the sun sat in awe of its shadow. A brief kerfuffle over who should clean up. Ferdinand taking his hand to kiss it, Hubert protesting that his gloves weren’t clean, and Ferdinand pressing his lips to Hubert’s cheek, once, before ducking away.

“We agreed to do it again, though without committing to specifics,” Hubert says. “I see so much of him even when I don’t want to, I cannot imagine—”

His lips pucker in realization. They are to meet with Edelgard and the professor that night, a short council to end a day of rest. After that, they’ll likely return to their rooms, only two doors down from each other.

He never knew why people avoided dating coworkers when he had no desire to do anything besides work. But the thought of seeing Ferdinand just a few hours after he gave Hubert that absurd smile, this time in the war room instead of the gardens, makes Hubert’s coffee churn in his stomach.

Edelgard fails to hide a smile behind her hand. “I trust you will both behave professionally.”

“Of course, Your Majesty.”

That resolution settles his stomach. Even Ferdinand knows the value of setting aside emotions.

“I trust you both with far more than that, you know,” she says. “And I am glad you trusted me with this. You seem concerned, but I am not.”

_I trust you both_. The words sound foreign after years of the two of them against the world. In a sense, it’s bittersweet, but he always knew he could not provide her with everything.

Something clicks, then, as his path comes into its usual sharp focus. The crimson horizon bending around Edelgard’s silhouette, her small form eclipsing it. The road, filthy from Hubert’s contributions. And Hubert, his arm locked with another’s, standing strong.

He rises with a bow. “Thank you. I have nothing else to report.”

“I assume you will keep me updated.”

“I assume the Emperor has better things to do than gossip,” he says, but he smiles.


End file.
